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I've struggled for a couple years with mosquito netting for our minimalist campervan (it has a stove, cooler, shelves, storage, fan and insulation but we sleep on air mattresses on the floor). The netting was either beyond our capability to do well, expensive, or required specific changes (such as removing weather stripping) that we didn't want to do. Our breakthrough came when I realized that just because pre-built mosquito netting had to fit the van frame - because it is the only part that is the same in all Metris campervans - we could just attach the netting to our interior van build.
So we hired our local Carolina Canvas and Awning to build two zipper roll up mosquito nettings for us. Both use black canvas on the outside and have zippers down each side so the center screen can be rolled up out of the way. The cost was $340 each with me providing the noseeum netting used. The two were designed somewhat differently. The side door was attached to the interior wall around the door. For the back door, I had to add a board across the top for attachment. So the back netting was attached to the top wall of the van (attaching it from the inside) while the sides were attached to the back of the shelves (so attaching it from the outside). Therefore the side screen was essentially rectangular while the back one had wings. Both have 10 inch flaps of canvas at the bottom of the door to lay on the floor when they are down which we hope will create a good enough seal.
The process of attaching it to the van was mostly straightforward. The only serious problem I had was attaching one section to the front of the sliding door area. I drilled shallow holes in the van's plastic panels and used ribbed nylon push rivets to make the attachment. This part may need a little additional help in the future but it seems to be working so far. With the netting rolled up it is well out of the way.
This obviously wasn't cheap or easy. But to put it in perspective, some friends have a Winnebago Travato and the only part of their expensive camper my wife was envious of was their sliding screen door. So this should easily give us plenty of ventilation on warm summer evenings. As I doubt if they will get use until next summer, this build is part of a forward looking yes life will go on vision. Hopefully the attached photographs will adequately complete the description.
So we hired our local Carolina Canvas and Awning to build two zipper roll up mosquito nettings for us. Both use black canvas on the outside and have zippers down each side so the center screen can be rolled up out of the way. The cost was $340 each with me providing the noseeum netting used. The two were designed somewhat differently. The side door was attached to the interior wall around the door. For the back door, I had to add a board across the top for attachment. So the back netting was attached to the top wall of the van (attaching it from the inside) while the sides were attached to the back of the shelves (so attaching it from the outside). Therefore the side screen was essentially rectangular while the back one had wings. Both have 10 inch flaps of canvas at the bottom of the door to lay on the floor when they are down which we hope will create a good enough seal.
The process of attaching it to the van was mostly straightforward. The only serious problem I had was attaching one section to the front of the sliding door area. I drilled shallow holes in the van's plastic panels and used ribbed nylon push rivets to make the attachment. This part may need a little additional help in the future but it seems to be working so far. With the netting rolled up it is well out of the way.
This obviously wasn't cheap or easy. But to put it in perspective, some friends have a Winnebago Travato and the only part of their expensive camper my wife was envious of was their sliding screen door. So this should easily give us plenty of ventilation on warm summer evenings. As I doubt if they will get use until next summer, this build is part of a forward looking yes life will go on vision. Hopefully the attached photographs will adequately complete the description.
